“Upcoming episodes will delve deeper into the events that led to his hospitalisation, uncovering secrets and revealing the identity of those involved,” ITV teased about the storyline.

According to The Sun: “Mikey loves working at Coronation Street and bosses love having him so it was a no brainer for him to sing for another year recently.

“Gary’s got a huge year coming up and it’s all kicked off on-screen and it’s just the beginning. There’s going to be a lot of Mikey on screens in the coming months.”

 

RadioTimes.com has reached out for comment from ITV.

In spoilers for this week on Coronation Street, Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon) reports Gary missing, and Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) reveals there has been a report from the hospital of an unidentified coma patient.

In hospital, Gary remains unconscious and a nurse tells a visitor that ‘Chesney’ is improving, but audiences will know it isn’t Chesney who is in hospital.

Kit informs Maria that the coma patient isn’t Gary but promises to track him down, leaving audiences questioning who the woman visiting Gary was and why she was lying about his identity.

ITV has confirmed that flashbacks will show the night of Gary’s attack, as the person responsible tries to cover their tracks.

Longchambon, who plays Maria, said of the storyline: “Maria and Gary are going through a bit of a rough patch at the minute, and initially she’s upset that he’s left but doesn’t think too much into it.

“As soon as Gary misses Liam’s birthday, she has a gut feeling that something isn’t right and fears something awful might have happened to him.

“Maria’s mind is spiralling, but she doesn’t stop for a second to think who actually attacked Gary, [though] she’s aware he has a lot of enemies from over the years who could have potentially wanted to take revenge on him.”